As most of you know, Jordan has been working here at Reggie’s Motorworks on and off for the past year or more. Not only is he extremely bright, driven, and detail-oriented, but also a great all-around person, with one heck of a brilliant future ahead of him. His passion for BMW’s and commitment to excellence in school and work is amazing. Jordan will be heading off to Purdue University to study engineering, and we couldn’t be more proud of him. We’ll miss his work ethic, can-do attitude, and willingness to pitch in wherever there’s a need. Thank you for everything. We wish you all the best, Jordan! We know amazing things are in store for you!
Speaking of Jordan, he was an immense help on one of our latest projects. In fact, he did most of the work on the following project himself!
Here’s a breakdown of the work done to this 1987 BMW 325ic:
*New brake lines from front to rear
*New brake hoses from body to trailing arms and from trailing arms to caliper
*New rear subframe bushings
*New parking brake cable and complete rebuilding of parking brake
*New right rear and left rear trailing arms
*New rear CV axle
*Installed refurbished fuel tank (sent off for professional cleaning, plus sealing and finish)
*Had sub-frame sand blasted and we (Jordan) repainted it
Now this cabrio is ready to get back on the road where it belongs! Hooray! Another victory for an old bimmer!
And don’t forget to vote for us on the IndyChannel.com’s A-List! Cast your vote here, and help us become the Best Repair Shop in the Indy area! Thank you for your support!
We will be heading to the Cruise-In this evening, and hope to see you there! If it’s too hot to sit outside under the tent, we’ll enjoy the comfort of the A/C inside Park Street Pub!
The heat wave and humidity continue to roll through the shop…alas, that’s summer in the Midwest for you! It’s been another busy week here at Reggie’s Motorworks, full of in-depth projects, oil changes, new tires, replacing odometer gears, and removing rust, just to name a few. Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the last two items.
4 gears were replaced, 3 of them were already removed before this photo was taken. The little orangish gear and its brass bushing were cut off.
Removing that little gear can be a bit tricky, so Reggie stepped in…wearing an orange shirt no less! (No, we did not plan that, but it did work out quite well!)
The new black replacement gear is installed:
This is the cluster before the other 3 gears are installed (this is a MotoMeter cluster, which requires 4 replacement gears total; the VDO units require only 3 replacement gears):
Screws are tightened:
The speedometer assembly is ready to be put back in place:
Then comes the challenge of reinstalling the gauge cluster in the dash. Jordan informed me that it’s quite a tight space to work in, since the steering wheel is kind of in the way. And you have to watch out for sharp objects inside the dash. Whew, I’m glad I’m only photographing this!
Besides replacing odometer gears, Reggie has switched gears from maintenance work to more rust repair. This time, he’s removing rust from the rear passenger side of this 1988 e30 M3. Here Reggie is grinding away the surface rust in order to get a better glimpse of the underlying issues.
As for the issue, here it is…our evil enemy, rust.
A section was then cut out to get a more in-depth look:
This car’s owner came by the shop this afternoon to see the progress on his bimmer. He is pleased to see that the rust is being properly eradicated!
As luck would have it, leftover metal from the Baur’s new battery box fits perfectly in this area!
Reggie removes all traces of rust along the rough edges:
Having all the tools for the job nearby is a must! This M3 is on our smaller lift, while a 1987 325i cabrio waits on the tall lift for a new (used) gas tank, new subframe bushings, new brake lines front to rear, etc, etc… (Stay tuned for details on that project next week!)
Reggie fabricates a patch panel using some wicked scissors (for lack of a more mechanical and technical term!) and some air shears. And I do mean wicked in both senses of the word! (These are tin snips.)
And here are the air shears! I now have a cool pen holder on my desk thanks to some scraps from this project! (Will post a photo of pen holder below)
Old rusty metal, meet your replacement!
As we’ve seen before with rust repair and fabricating custom replacement metal patches (check out more rust repair here, here, and here), there’s a little more to it than just getting the size of the panel correct. There is often some tweaking and bending necessary to get the proper fitment.
Next, Reggie paints on some rust treatment. “Destroys Rust!”
We’ll stop there for now…stay tuned for more on this rust repair project! And as promised, here is a photo of my newest desk accessory while I’m working on the blog! It’s recycled, it’s functional, and sharp (in more ways than one!), and I love it! Especially since it shows of my Reggie’s Motorworks pen!
And if you attended our Open House earlier this summer, you saw the custom e30 grill belt buckle I had made for Reggie’s birthday…well, I’ve finally remembered to tell you where I got it! Fosterweld! I was lucky enough to visit the owner’s shop and see first hand how passionate he is about his business (custom buckles, cuffs, furniture, and more!) – thank you, Chris, for making the coolest belt buckle for my husband! He absolutely loves it! Check out his website and blog, you will be amazed!
We’ll be heading over to the Cruise-In soon…we hope to see you there! Have a great weekend!
If you live here in the Midwest, we’re sure you’re well aware of the intense heat wave that seems to be hovering over us indefinitely!
We just found out today that Reggie’s Motorworks has been nominated for Best Repair Shop on TheIndyChannel.com A-List! We are truly honored! You can help us become #1 in Indy! Cast your vote here!
It turns out that we’re not the only ones who love bimmers! Our feathered friends are known for making their homes in strange places…and one bird made his home here, in the airbox of a 1987 325, perhaps hoping to be featured on MTV Cribs! While the airbox was replaced, Reggie also installed brake rotors, new pads, sensors, hoses, and brake fluid. This 325 also had an oil change and new fuel injection hose from the hard line forward.
We’ve also had 3 M3’s in the shop this week! Take a look:
This 1997 M3 got a new fan clutch, new rear shock mounts, AC belt, serpentine belt, belt tensioner and belt idler pulleys, and a new seat occupancy sensor. There was also a large nail in the rear passenger side tire, so Reggie patched that internally.
Another 1997 M3! This one got control arms, bushings, and tie rods, as well as a 4-wheel alignment service.
And the third M3 is a 1988. It will be getting an oil service while swapping out a noisy differential.
We’re hoping it cools off a bit for the Cruise-In! Hope to see you there!
The heat and humidity has been a bit brutal this week, but that’s what summer is all about, right? In addition to the heat wave, we’ve had a full house here at the shop. Here’s a peek at what’s going on right now!
Love for BMWs extends throughout Reggie’s family. His Mom had a zinnoberrot 1986 325, which Reggie drove back and forth to Florida several times, and thus began his desire to tinker with these old cars. Reggie’s Aunt Sally also has a BMW, which she drove up from Florida to have Reggie work on while visiting with family. Her 2000 328i is really in great shape! Reggie installed new front control arm bushings, front and rear brake rotors, pads, and sensors, flushed and replaced brake fluid, replaced the breather hose, changed the oil and filter, and polished up her cloudy headlight lenses (see below).
And the 2005 Mini Cooper is back for some additional service and repair! A new clockspring/slip ring was installed for its multifunctional steering wheel. The non-functioning horn was diagnosed and fixed, and was tested several times! Reggie will also be diagnosing the malfunctioning occupancy sensor, which in its current condition will not allow the airbag system to function properly.
This 1989 325ix is getting new front brake rotors, pads, and sensors, as well as new outer ball joints and control arm bushings on both sides, and new brake hoses. We’ll bleed the brake system and add new brake fluid.
We’ll soon be welcoming this car to the 5-speed club! This 1988 325 will get a 5-speed manual transmission conversion kit, a new clutch kit, and a 3.25:1 limited slip differential. Oh yeah!
And who could forget about this 1988 325i cabrio? This alpinweiss beauty is back! She’s going to get a new full suspension…springs, shocks, struts, the works! Two words: SLEEK and LOW.
Speaking of alpinweiss…we’ve got another one for you! That’s right! I told you, they just find their way here to Reggie’s Motorworks! We met the owner of this 1986 325es (swap) at the Cruise In a few weeks ago, and he is a genuine enthusiast, who’s very excited to get his 325es back on the track.
Reggie will repair the left rear inner wheel housing, and install the rear shock tower brace. The rear suspension will be removed completely, the diff and rusted brake lines will be replaced as well. This bimmer also has some rust damage issues which will also be addressed.
Just look at the engine bay!
The Baur is awaiting the installation of her new battery box, which may be on Reggie’s to-do list over the weekend! And it’s Friday, so we’ll be heading to the Cruise-In, and hope to see you there! Have a great weekend!
As you know, last Saturday was our annual Open House event. We always look forward to these events because it’s a fun way for us to show our appreciation for our wonderful customers. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to do what we love, which is keeping great cars on the road and keeping their owners happy and excited to drive them. We couldn’t have been happier with the turn out of this event…the cars, the weather, the food, and the company were all amazing! Thank you so much to all those who attended. We hope that you had a great time! Let’s take a look back at that sunny day, shall we? To look at the full gallery, click here. Jordan also got some great photos…take a look here! We both got a little brave and ventured onto the roof…be sure to check out his view! Thanks, Jordan! And thank you for all of your hard work in getting us ready for this event! Next week we’ll try to get back to our regularly scheduled programming here on the blog.
We were excited to share our new logo…especially these stickers!
Hello, alpinweiss section!
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed Sean’s cooking! Bacon wrapped jalepenos, perfectly smoked pork, burgers, mac ‘n cheese, cole slaw…and grilled apple peanut butter crumble goodness for dessert! And ice cream, of course!
It was pretty unanimous that everyone loved this M5…how could you not love it?!
Does this cabrio look familiar? Takashi and Becca, so glad you guys could come!
Coming all the way from Bloomington, this beautiful cabrio won the coveted “Best of Show” award for the day!
The Roundel spins!
The “Work in Progress” award went to this bimmer!
We gave away some door prizes, including some of our new t-shirts and Reggie’s Motorworks gift certificates. We also had a winner of an automobile photo session! We’ll be sure to post the photos from the winner’s photo session, so stay tuned!
Another popular car was this nice little yellow one…
And we also have some new t-shirts with our new logo, as well as our awesome older logo, in some bright colors! Thank you to John at Enthusiast Apparel!
Sean, we cannot thank you enough for your hard work and fabulous food!
Since I’m writing the blog today, I wanted to post this last picture of my hard-working, and rather handsome husband. After everyone had gone home, we took a few minutes to relax and talk about what a great day we had. Reggie works very hard and loves every minute of it. I’m so proud of him and what he has accomplished. He inspires me every day to do what I love to do, and for that I am so grateful and so darn lucky. Reggie, you are the best, and I love you!
Now we’re off to the Cruise-In! Have a great weekend!
First for some exciting news…Reggie’s Motorworks made the cover of Current in Westfield! Click here to read the article on Page 9! We got a call last week saying they wanted to interview Reggie and learn more about what he does. We are very pleased and excited about this great article!
Just the other day, we delivered the Alpinweiss 1988 325i cabrio to its new owner. We are very happy to report that he loves the car! He’s very excited to get it on the road…it’s safe to bet that he’s put a few miles on it already! Click here for a full gallery of the bodywork, and click here for more delivery photos. As you saw on the blog last week, the antenna is gone, as well as the spoiler and third brake light. And the rust…gone!
That’s the owner’s other Alpinweiss bimmer in the background:
Here’s the proud owner and enthusiast:
Remember last week when we mentioned that we were working on a 1989 325ix? Well, this car belongs to an enthusiast (Hi Tom!) whom we met last fall at Vintage Fest up near Chicago. He happened to be in Bloomington, IN and gave us a call when he found out something was wrong with his car. Did we tell you that the differential had been installed incorrectly by another shop? Now, you cannot tell by the photo that the drive shaft is bent, but it is. Reggie rolled it on a flat steel table, which confirmed its bent state. (Check out some more photos here.)
See the ‘teeth marks’? Those should not be there!
Check out this slimy, shimmery paste-like substance…isn’t it pretty? Yes, if you’re Lady Gaga! Otherwise, no, this is not pretty at all! Besides not being pretty, it smells too. Not good.
We were very happy to be able to help Tom out and get his ix back on the road. And he got to join us for the Cruise-In last Friday as well!
Last weekend we checked out the Mecum Auction. They had plenty to see, that’s for sure! Here’s a slideshow of some cars and details that caught our eye:
We’ll be back next week with details about an ‘87 M3 and about our roadtrip to Vintage at the Vineyards!
Have a Happy & Safe Memorial Day Weekend!
Happy Friday! The sun is fighting through some clouds today, hopefully it will come out strong this evening for the Cruise-In! Just a few photos from last Friday:
It’s been a great week here at the shop. Reggie is really pleased with the progress on the 1988 325i cabrio! After laying down a nice blanket of Alpinweiss last weekend, he noticed that the color just did not quite match the rest of the car. After some more research, we learned that BMW made 2 variations of Alpinweiss during the same production year! So we’re chalking this one up to experience. We took a piece of the cabrio to an expert about 30 minutes away, where he custom color matched the paint for us and stored the new code in their system. Once that was squared away, Reggie prepped the cabrio and got busy painting. As it sits right now, it’s just waiting to be wet-sanded. And we couldn’t be happier with the paint match!
To see a full gallery of the bodywork done to this cabrio, click here. Just a few photos from the prep work to buffing:
Reggie block sands all areas that have imperfections, then masks the car for primer before yet more sanding. Masking takes quite a bit of time, but it’s very important. Reggie found a good deal on a masking cart, which adheres tape to paper allowing you to tear off pre-taped strips as needed. It was well worth the investment to save a little time during the prep work.
First, the car gets a coat of high-build surfacer/primer to fill any last flaws:
Here is the car after the high-build primer has been finish sanded (ready for the white paint!):
The car is now ready for the “base coat” paint and then the clear coat!
Then the fine tuning begins! The car is wet-sanded and then buffed to let that new paint shine! (Yes, these photos are from the first round of paint with the ‘other’ Alpinweiss, but the process is the same!)
So despite the whole Alpinweiss paint code debacle, we’re pretty darn pleased with how this car is coming along! We’ll be sure to keep you posted on its progress!
Reggie also replaced front and rear brakes on a very nice 2005 Mini Cooper S. The Mini’s brake calipers and brackets also got a coat of red ceramic paint. They really pop against the silver and black body. We’re also working on a 1989 325ix and doing some A/C work on a Volvo, just to name a few.
If you’re a subscriber to our Newsletter, you’ve probably read that we’ve recently upgraded some technology around the shop, allowing us to work on later model BMW, Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen. We’re very excited to be able to work on these marks, as many of our customers own one or more of them in addition to their Bimmers. If you would like to schedule an inspection or need to take care of some routine maintenance, give us a call at 317.804.9313.
We’ll be going to the Mecum Auction tomorrow, so if you’re in the Indianapolis area, you may want to check it out!
It’s Friday, which means it’s Cruise-In Friday. Lately, we’ve not had much luck with the weather, but today is a different story! The sun is shining, and it looks like we may have a slight chance for a bit of rain, but not for long. So, we hope to see some of you tonight at Park Street! Click here for all of the details.
We’ve been good and busy here at the shop, namely working on a sweet 1988 325i cabrio, which is coming along quite nicely. For a look at all the bodywork that’s been done so far, click here. Meanwhile, I’m going to highlight some of my favorite parts of this project so far. As you may recall, last week we outlined the work to be done. For a recap, click here. Now on to the fun stuff!
This is the original antenna on the convertible. Reggie was pretty excited about shaving this thing. Now let’s see how he did it!
He removed the antenna mast and motor:
Next he used the grinder to remove the paint around the hole to prep it before a patch could be welded in place:
Here’s the result:
He then used a file to remove paint that was inside around the edges to get a clean surface:
Then it was time to configure a patch to fill in the hole:
Back to the grinder to cut out the patch:
Reggie lined up the patch and used this handy magnetic tool to hold it in place while he did a few tack welds:
This next image is one of my favorite photos of Reggie in action as he welds the patch in place:
Next, he used the grinder to smooth it out:
Voila! This area will be ready to prep for paint after a little work with the hammer and dolly and some body filler!
We had a great trip up to Troy, Michigan last week. The weather was beautiful – warm and sunny with blue skies. A perfect day for a road trip! Upon arriving at our destination, the seller uncovered the alpinweiss cabrio. Reggie inspected the exterior, the interior, and under the hood before taking it on a test drive. The seller agreed to an allowance to cover work that will need to be done to the air conditioning system. Reggie contacted the buyer to get approval, and a deal was made! We put the top down and headed home under sunny skies. And this is how this 5-speed 1988 325i cabrio made its way to Reggie’s Motorworks!
In fact, it’s another sunny day and the new owner of this fine car drove here from Lafayette to check out his new e30, to meet Reggie, and to take a look around the shop. It’s always great to meet another enthusiast! And we’re excited to get this alpine beauty back on the road!
Since we brought the cabrio into the shop immediately to begin addressing its issues, we did not get any ‘proper’ photos, but we’ll be sure to get some in-progress and after photos. Click here to see more! Don’t get us wrong, this is a NICE car to start with. It turned over 99K original miles on the trip home!!
Here’s the plan of attack:
1. Repair seat bolster and re-dye worn bolster (the driver’s seat is already at the upholstery shop!)
2. Replace dry-rotted fuel hoses, both under hood and at fuel filter
3. Oil change
4. Install correct spark plugs
5. Diagnose & repair idle issue (it’s currently idling high)
6. Evacuate, vacuum, leak test, and recharge AC system
7. Replace front sway bar links
8. Rust repair (both rear quarter panels and fender lips) – The driver’s side rear quarter panel and fender lip are shown here:
9. Valve adjustment
10. Shave antenna (we’re excited about this!)
11. Replace deck lid to eliminate 3rd brake light, spoiler, and “325i” emblem – the owner wants a real clean smooth look to go with his Alpine White 335i…..down the road there may be “other” similarities between this car and his 335i……We’ll let you speculate on that one.
In other news, the Baur got new Bilstein sport shocks and struts, new front strut mounts, e36 M3 rear shock mounts, and reused H & R lowering springs that came with the car. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of that project…however, Reggie is quite happy with the results from the upgrade. If you missed the Baur’s most recent photo session, check it out here!
Happy Thursday! That’s right, we’re blogging today instead of tomorrow. We’ve been commissioned to inspect and possibly purchase an e30 convertible for a customer. So we’ll be taking a road trip up north to Troy, Michigan to see if this Bimmer meets our customer’s needs. The weatherman is promising beautiful weather, so we’re looking forward to a nice drive before heading back for the Friday Night Cruise-In at Park Street Pub. We’ll be ready for a game of cornhole!
This week, Reggie worked on a 2000 VW turbo Beetle. It was in need of new front and rear brakes and rotors. The charcoal canister was also replaced, as it had been previously damaged, most likely due to hitting some debris on the highway.
Reggie also wrapped up the Leatherique treatment on the 1992 325i cabrio (see also here and here) while finishing the installation of the M5 keyless entry and alarm system. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Reggie ‘paints’ some flux on the wires and solders them together.
Heat is applied to the heat shrink tubing.
This cabrio is inheriting the alarm system from the M5.
Reggie grinds off the ends of the bolts for a nice finish.
It’s our dear friend flux again!
He wanted to make sure the wiring was long enough, so if someone were to remove this piece, there would be some slack in the wiring.
The flux is applied to the wires before soldering them together.
And where there’s smoke…well, fortunately, there was no fire during the shooting of these photographs!
I guess you could count this as fire. Reggie uses a lighter to melt the heat shrink tubing around the soldered wires.
Now this piece is ready to be installed.
Here is the finished installation.
This fiery cabrio now has a clean, renewed leather interior, thanks to Leatherique.
And thanks to the M5, this e30 has a keyless entry and alarm system.
This site was designed and produced solely by Reggie's Motorworks, Inc. Reggie's Motorworks is not associated with BMW North America in any manner.
All pictures and references to the BMW name, and the car names and shapes are for reference only, and do not imply any association with BMW.
(Will post a photo of pen holder below)
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